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ADJUSTABLE CLASP FOR.- BOOKS.

No. 252,100. Patented Jan. 10,1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ALFRED OHAEELY, OF NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TOWILLIAM O.HOBN, on BROOKLYN, N. Y.

ADJUSTABLE CLASP FOR BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,100, dated January 10, 1882. Application filed May 31, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED C. HAFELY, o the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Adjustable Clasps for Books, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Album and book clasps have been made of two parts that are drawn toward each other by the action of springs. In these clasps it is necessary to distend the springs more or less in closing or opening the clasp, because the springs draw the two parts of the clasp nearer together when the clasp is open than is required for the book when the clasp is closed.

A book-clasp has been made with a screw entering a socket and having an eye for a bolt upon one of the covers. The screw can only be turned when the clasp is unfasteucd, and

screw and tubular sockets have been employed in a two-part clasp.

My improvement relates to the combination, in the clasp, of one part that is hinged to one cover, a second part that is adapted to be connected removably with the other cover, and a screw with right and left hand threads and athumb-wheel, by which the distance between the ends of the clasp may be varied and both parts receive an equal movementfrom the screw toward and from the thumb-wheel.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the clasp. Fig. 2 is a side view, and Fig. 3 is an inverted plan, of the clasp.

The clip-pieces a and b are secured to the respective covers a and d in any convenient manner. To one of the clips, a, the clasp is hinged at e, and to the other clip, I), the stud or lip 71 is fastened, for the swinging clasp to catch behind when the book is closed. p

The clasp is made of two principal parts, It and l, and the screw n. The screw it extends from the part h to the part l and serves to regulate the distance between the hinge e and the eye or loop 0, that catches over the stud i. There are right and left hand threads on the screw n, the respective ends of the screw passingthrough the nuts 4 and 5 on the parts It and l, and the thumb-wheel s being upon the screw between the parts h and I.

Where the parts h and l are made as metallic plates they are to be guided so that one may slide in the same plane with the other. This 'fingers on the edges of the plate h, lapping around behind the plate I, to keep the two plates together, but to allow of the necessary lengthenin g or shortening of the clasp by the action of the screw.

It'the clasp is made with a wire how, the righ tand-left-handed screw will be made to act within screw-tubes fastened to the respective parts h and l, as shown in Fig. 4; or the right-andleft-hand screws maybe fixtures on the respective parts It and l, and the screw-sleeve be made with right and left hand threads.

It will be apparent that under ordinary circumstances it will not be necessary to operate the screw in opening and closing the clasp; but whenever the thickness of the book varies, or whenever pressure of the covers on the book is required, the same can be applied by the screw.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a clasp adapted to be secured to a book, the combination, with the two-part extensible clasp h l, of a right-andlelt-hand screw and thumb-wheel, substantially as set forth.

2. In a clasp adaptedto be secured to a book, the combination, with the two-part extensible clasp h Z, of the rightand-left-hand screw and thumb-wheel and the cap-plate t, through a slot in which cap-plate the thumb-wheel projects, substantially as specified.

Signed by me this 27th day of May, A. D. 1881.

A. (J. HAFELY.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINGKNEY, WILLIAM G. MOTT. 

